A process uses electronic badges to convey a condition associated with an environment to an industrial vehicle. The process comprises identifying a condition in a limited, defined environment and associating the identified condition with a badge ID. The process also comprises programming an electronic badge based upon the identified condition and positioning the electronic badge within a work area of industrial vehicles. Still further, the process comprises receiving, by a processor on an industrial vehicle, information from the electronic badge including at least one of the associated badge ID and the identified condition. The information is received via a badge communicator that communicates with electronic badges that are within a predetermined range of the industrial vehicle via a first wireless communication link. The process also determines the condition from the information from the electronic badge, and controls the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition.

Provided is a camera-enabled ear-worn device with systems and methods that extend the user’s view. An electronic device configured to be worn on an ear of the user includes a sensor configured to detect first information about a surrounding of the user, the first information including second information about an area beyond a field of view of the user. The electronic device also includes a processing unit configured to carry out an operation associated with the first information. In an embodiment, the electronic device further includes a communication device configured to communicate with another electronic device.

A system is provided for providing location-specific images to a mobile device for display. The system generally comprises three components: a mobile device having a screen, a position identification system (e.g., a GPS receiver) that determines the position of the mobile device, and a database containing location-specific images taken at various locations. Each location-specific image is associated with geographic coordinates of the location at which the image was taken. Based on the position of the mobile device as determined by the position identification system, a location-specific image is selected from the database and displayed on the screen of the mobile device. For example, when a user is using the mobile device as a car navigation system, a location-specific image of the user's destination location can be selected and displayed when the determined position of the mobile device comes within a certain distance from the geographic coordinates of the destination location.

A method of assisting a user. The method including obtaining a plurality of rules having condition components and action components, the action components specifying conversation schemas, detecting, by a sensor, a fact related to an environment of the user, identifying a rule, of the plurality of rules, having a condition component that is satisfied by the detected fact, initiating a conversation with the user according to a conversation schema of the action component of the rule of the plurality of rules, and performing an action in response to a positive statement by the user.

A method of operation of a navigation system includes: identifying a navigational context for representing a user; determining a participant identification based on the navigational context for representing a participant, the participant identification including a familiarity rating; and generating a communication channel with a control unit during a navigation session based on the navigational context for communicating a message between the user and the participant independent of the familiarity rating.

A sound output device includes an acquisition unit, an ear speaker, and a sound controller. The acquisition unit acquires data of an information sound providing an operator with information. The ear speaker outputs the information sound such that sound pressure of the information sound at a position of an ear of the operator is higher than sound pressure at positions other than the position of the ear. The sound controller controls the ear speaker to emphasize the information sound more when the information sound indicates a high degree of necessity for the operator to take action against the information sound than when the information sound indicates a low degree of the necessity.

A vehicle position guidance system includes a terminal position measurement section, a vehicle position measurement section, a calculator, and a guide. The terminal position measurement section measures a position of a terminal carried by a user. The vehicle position measurement section measures a position of a parked vehicle. The calculator obtains a route using position information related to the terminal and position information related to the parked vehicle. The guide assists the user in entering the vehicle by selectively using a first guidance and a second guidance depending on whether a distance is long or short between the terminal and the parked vehicle on the route. The first guidance provides guidance to the position of the parked vehicle using the terminal. The second guidance provides guidance to the position of the parked vehicle through a notification using a vehicle on-board device of the parked vehicle.

An information provision device transmits, by near field communication, fixed phrase information, of guidance information that guides a user, representative of a fixed phrase and insertion phrase information selected from among a plurality of pieces of insertion phrase information representative of different insertion phrases to be inserted in the fixed phrase, to a terminal device capable of presenting, to the user, presentation information corresponding to the guidance information where the insertion phrase represented by the insertion phrase information is inserted in the fixed phrase represented by the fixed phrase information.

Automated drive assisting devices, methods, and programs acquire position specifying information for specifying a vehicle position during travel, and acquire a continuity degree that represents a degree to which automated drive can be continued on the basis of the position specifying information acquired during the automated drive. The devices, methods, and programs determine whether the automated drive can be continued on the basis of the acquired continuity degree, and determine vehicle control information for controlling a vehicle such that the continuity degree becomes higher on the basis of the acquired position specifying information in the case where it is determined that the automated drive cannot be continued. The devices, methods, and programs output the determined vehicle control information to a vehicle control device that controls the vehicle.

In some implementations, a user device can personalize a media stream by converting notifications into audio speech data and presenting the audio speech data at locations within the media stream that do not interrupt the enjoyment of the media stream by the user. In some implementations, the user device can receive notifications from various communication services, applications installed on the user device, and/or other sources, determine information describing the notifications, and present the information to the user using the audio speech data. In some implementations, the user device can generate personalized notifications based on the media stream and/or media items selected by the user. The user device can generate personalized notifications based on the user's context (e.g., environment, location, activity, etc.). The personalized notifications can then be presented to the user using audio speech data at appropriate locations in the media stream.